Fewer squirrels in the country. Seems weird.

[fastfredracing]

My bud was out squirrel hunting yesterday and said the same thing .
I still see quite a few in my yard ( lots of oak trees ) .
When we lived in the city , they scared me . We called them tree rats. They must have been eating good, because they were huge , and had no fear of humans. Im guessing, not as many natural predators also .
They would sit up in the tree and bark at us , like we were harshing on their buzz or something.

[KFC911]

Back in the 70s my dad got tired of 'em eating his apples from the backyard trees ...

So he would slip out the basement with his single barrel 12 guage..... bang!

17 within a few weeks time ....

Didn't matter

Deer, Foxes, Skwerls , .... I gots 'em .... and owls, hawks, cats, and such too....

Bunnies appear .... and get gone .... they do NOT thrive.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by KC911

Back in the 70s my dad got tired of 'em eating his apples from the backyard trees ...

So he would slip out the basement with his single barrel 12 guage..... bang!

17 within a few weeks time ....

Didn't matter

Deer, Foxes, Skwerls , .... I gots 'em .... and owls, hawks, cats, and such too....

Bunnies appear .... and get gone .... they do NOT thrive.

One of my grandfathers had a pecan tree in his yard. He used a BB gun to keep them from eating all of his pecans.

[oldE]

There are of course population swings between prey and predators. For a decade or so as the coyote population grew around here, the rabbit, red fox and pheasant population was nearly wiped out. Then with diminished food supply, there were fewer coyotes. After a few years we started to see rabbits and other small critters again.
We see the same thing with red squirrels and weasels. Right now there seems to be be a healthy hawk population, so I am guessing there are lots of field mice(even though I didn't notice as many while we were haying).
I don't think we notice much more than a small percentage of the wildlife around us.

Best
Les

[porsche930dude]

It depends on the area and how they did that year I guess. For a few years we had like 100 chipmunks around the house thy loved our birdseed we even had them eating off our hand and lap. Now there are none around. Same with turkeys there was a time when there was a flock of 30 of them. Then there was nothing. Now there are 5 or 6 around. On the next hill I saw a big flock of 20 or so. I guess they are coming back. I heard there was some fungus around their eyes they get so they cant see to eat and they died off. Regular gray squirels are around but not in great numbers.

[HardDrive]

Maybe new raptors have moved into the area.

[GH85Carrera]

Our male dachshund, Reuben has killed one bunny, and one squirrel that we know of. Countless mice and other critters that encroach in HIS back yard.

I was amazed that he got a squirrel, but I had to bury it in the compost pile. The bunny was buried in the compost pile as well. The worms gotta eat and the did not go in the trash and stink.

We had a wild turkey hen come through the other day. It was alone, and squawking looking for the rest of the herd. It was in the area for two days. It hopped the fence and pecked around by the Koi pond for a while and then left.



Mice are a favorite snack of his.

[Evans, Marv]

Originally Posted by masraum

Out of curiosity, because I don't have any experience with ground squirrels, why are they considered a nuisance?

As Scott said, they really dig up the ground, making burrows everywhere. They also can carry diseases, eat up your garden, etc. I don't like having them around my property (no one else does around here either) because they can multiply so rapidly. Predators don't seem to keep up with the population increases. The ones I shoot, I put out for the animals to eat. The hawks try to carry them away, but most of the time they're too heavy. The buzzards do a good job though.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

As Scott said, they really dig up the ground, making burrows everywhere. They also can carry diseases, eat up your garden, etc. I don't like having them around my property (no one else does around here either) because they can multiply so rapidly. Predators don't seem to keep up with the population increases. The ones I shoot, I put out for the animals to eat. The hawks try to carry them away, but most of the time they're too heavy. The buzzards do a good job though.

Yep, anything dead around here gets hit by the black vultures, turkey vultures, and crested caracaras.

We've got a spot that we use for compost. It's usually vegetable matter. Very rarely, it'll have some meat in it. One time we had an issue with the fridge in the garage and had to throw out a bunch of meat. The next morning we must have had 30 vultures on the property. I've also seen a few strip a armadillo that was hit by a car out by the mailbox to nothing but spine and armor.

[DRONE]

they closed the golf course we are living on, so they are seeking shelter in our yard 1 live trap and 4 not so live traps getting at least 1 a night I will walk the live ones to the other side and the not so live ones get placed along the trails up to our property to send a message
pellet gun as a back up

[LEAKYSEALS951]

In my neck of the woods, squirrels have been replaced by deer. I have never seen so many buck as this season.

Everywhere.

Had two separate encounters this morning where the deer jumped in front of the car so close I was a nervous wreck.

Fortunately sasquatch eat deers, so, I'm waiting for them to chime in. (any day now...)

[A930Rocket]

Many years ago, I trapped about 25 squirrels and dispatched them. I would leave them on the lot next-door and every time, they would be gone when I dropped off another one. After the 25, I think I wiped out the population around my house.

We also had herds of deer that would go through the backyard. Sometimes there would be 10 to 15, including babies, making their way from one place to the next.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by LEAKYSEALS951

In my neck of the woods, squirrels have been replaced by deer. I have never seen so many buck as this season.

Everywhere.

Had two separate encounters this morning where the deer jumped in front of the car so close I was a nervous wreck.

Fortunately sasquatch eat deers, so, I'm waiting for them to chime in. (any day now...)

[Evans, Marv]

Originally Posted by masraum

Yep, anything dead around here gets hit by the black vultures, turkey vultures, and crested caracaras.

We've got a spot that we use for compost. It's usually vegetable matter. Very rarely, it'll have some meat in it. One time we had an issue with the fridge in the garage and had to throw out a bunch of meat. The next morning we must have had 30 vultures on the property. I've also seen a few strip a armadillo that was hit by a car out by the mailbox to nothing but spine and armor.

If we had tree squirrels around here, I'd eat them. As a kid, I'd go out with my friends into the local mountains and we'd shoot tree squirrels. I was really surprised when I brought the first one home, and my mom (farm girl in her young years) surprised me with how effeciently she cleaned & skinned it and fried it up like chicken. They were good eating. After the first one, I brought the ones my buddies shot home to be eaten. I gave a piece to my girlfriend once, but I don't think she actually ate it. Around here, we have turkeys, deer, bobcats, possums, skunks, coyotes, rabbits, foxes, the occasional mountain lion, etc., etc. I feed the rabbits and a local hawk every day. Ground squirrels, rats, and mice are the only ones I get rid of.

[masraum]

My dad went hunting once when I was about 4 and came back with 2-3 squirrels. We ate them. I don't remember anything about the taste.

[cabmandone]

If it'll make ya feel better, I'll catch some of the abundance we have in our woods in Defiance Ohio and send them to you. Or I can just send you all the pictures where the darn things trigger my trail cameras. Or I can send pics from my tree stand of them running around. Yeah we have plenty.

My brother has regular battles with the little pests. The done killed his maders!

[Tervuren]

As construction goes on around here making clearings in forests for housing, deer and squirrel population is jumping rapidly.

They are far easier prey in the open or "deep forest" and thrive best with fringes that provide substantially more concealment.

The housing increase allows greater depth of light penetration.

This increases the yield of plant matter overall as instead of a flat forest canopy the area growing is increased by the cuts that break up the canopy.

How are the big birds of prey going about in your area?

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by cabmandone

If it'll make ya feel better, I'll catch some of the abundance we have in our woods in Defiance Ohio and send them to you. Or I can just send you all the pictures where the darn things trigger my trail cameras. Or I can send pics from my tree stand of them running around. Yeah we have plenty.

My brother has regular battles with the little pests. The done killed his maders!

I have boo koo tree rats here too. I'd love to reduce the population. Same with the chipmunks.

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

I have boo koo tree rats here too. I'd love to reduce the population. Same with the chipmunks.

We do our best before and after deer season to thin the herd but they seem to reproduce like rabbits, which we seem to have far less of these days. I think the yotes hawk, and now bobcats are taking their toll on the rabbit population. I'm hoping this new habitat strip we just put in around our farm will help with the rabbit population.

[Mike Andrew]

No shortage at my house. But, I feed them daily and sit back and get entertained by their group dynamics and antics. I have provided nesting boxes for them and have a Fall crop of 7 new hatches that are just beginning to venture away from their home trees. Virtually all Eastern Greys but a Fox squirrel just returned after being absent for 6 months. Walked right to me and waited for a nut. The Greys don't fool with him. I was under the 911 last year and he walked into the garage, sat next to me and patiently waited for me to fork over a pecan or walnut.

Had half a dozen chippers but they have vanished, likely due to the Hood feral cat or Cooper's hawks.

That siad, I am seeing far fewer tree rats and ground squirrels at my place in far NW Wisconsin, even with good crops of acorns the past two years. Lots of black (melanistic) squirrels, probably 50% of what I do see. My suspicion is that the local Bobcats, coyotes, eagles, hawks, owls and foxes have put a serious dent in their population. Grouse, what's a grouse? Now if I could get the predators to decimate the mice, I would be beyond ecstatic.